Some Kind of Horrible
by Lololita
Summary: Ephram comes home.
1. Stare At the Sun

Title: Stare at the Sun  
  
Author: Lololita  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Everwood and I don't own any of the characters. The actually text, on the other hand, belongs to me. All the titles are titles of Thrice songs, from their Album, Artist in the Ambulance.  
  
Summary: This is the first part in a series.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Couples: Ephram/OC, Ephram/Bright, Andy/Nina, Delia/OC, Amy/OC  
  
- - - - -  
  
'Cause I'm due for a miracle/I'm waiting for a sign/I'll stare straight into the sun/And I won't close my eyes/'Till I understand or go blind. - Stare at the Sun, Thrice.  
  
Ephram Brown was a fuck up.  
  
Looking around in his tiny, roach infested, New York City apartment seemed to confirm the fact.  
  
He couldn't really remember how it gotten so bad. He remembered leaving Everwood for New York after high school graduation. He didn't go to New York to go to college, he remembered. He had decided to take a year off to "find himself", much to his fathers dismay.  
  
He remembered finding his friends first, the old gang. He watched as he found himself entranced into a new world, their world. He remembered how to figure out which was the real cocaine, instead of the bogus ones that people occasionally tried to sell. He knew which clubs passed out Ecstasy. He remembered to never share his needles, he figured that he would be stupid and live, not stupid and die.  
  
Then he remembered finding himself. He remembered deciding that girls weren't so hot anymore. He decided that boys had much better lips and made much better kissers. He remembered his first time with a guy and he remembered deciding that he was definitely a fag.  
  
He remembered when the first guy left, after deciding that he was too screwed up to handle. He remembered the four guys after that, who left for the same reason.  
  
He remembered running out of money in his trust fund and playing the piano at random jazz clubs to compensate.  
  
What he didn't remember was the last time he spoke to his father, or to Delia. He vaguely remembered talking to them the first few months after he arrived in New York, but he couldn't remember talking to them after that. He knew he was 23, so that would make Delia 16 and his father even older.  
  
Okay, so maybe he did remember how it gotten so bad.  
  
As he was packing his bag after the "FINAL EVICTION NOTICE", he decided that he knew where he was going next.  
  
He packed everything he deemed important. Underwear, a toothbrush, a towel, the Thankful book that Delia told him he could take with him to New York, and his last bag of cocaine. Nothing else seemed important enough.  
  
He placed his bag in front of the door and leaned over to his right to pick up the phone that was next to him. He stared at it for a while before finally dialing the numbers. He hadn't called in years, but he still remembered the number.  
  
"Hello?" he heard someone answer. Ephram's heart quickened as he recognized his fathers voice. "Hello?" the voice asked again.  
  
"Hi." Ephram responded. A few tears escaped from his eyes as his throat started to close. "Dad.it's me."  
  
"Ephram?" Andy Brown asked. "Where.how are you?"  
  
Ephram let a sob escape. "Can I come home?" he asked.  
  
"Of course you can Ephram, you always could have. Where are you?" Andy answered, fighting his own tears.  
  
"Thank you dad." Ephram responded. "I'll be there in a week. Bye dad." Ephram hung up before he had to hear anymore.  
  
He only had three hundred dollars to his name and he was going to use it to take a bus to Everwood.  
  
He put on his light jacket, too light for January, and picked up his bag. He was going home again.  
  
End 


	2. Blood Clots and Black Holes

Authors Note: Uh, I live in Michigan, so I don't know too much about cab rides. So, work with me here.please?  
  
Here's your new drug/shoot it in the left eye/feel it on the right side/no, it's not love - Blood Clots and Black Holes, Thrice.  
  
The bus had its first stop in Pittsburgh. Ephram went to the restroom and got the first good look at himself since November. In late November he broke all the mirrors in his house, after deciding to quit drugs. In early December he went back to the drugs.  
  
He didn't like his reflection. It wasn't too different from his reflection in late November. His hair was still a very dark, almost black, blue. The eyebrow piercing was still there. The only thing that changed was his complexion. He was paler than ever. He looked like the walking dead.  
  
He splashed warm water on his face and then went back to the bus. It was going to be a long ride and all he wanted to do was sleep.  
  
A week later he woke up and was in Denver. Their still wasn't a train station in Everwood, so he would have to get a cab. He remembered the address and went back to sleep. The cabbie woke him up two hours later, to tell him that they had arrived. Ephram stared at his house.  
  
"200." The man said.  
  
Ephram looked at him, and the man flinched a little, probably disturbed by the red circles around his eyes. "What?" Ephram asked him.  
  
"A cab ride from Denver to Everwood is two hundred dollars." The man told him.  
  
Ephram reached into his pocked at handed over his last two hundred bucks. He was officially dirt poor. Ephram grabbed his bag and left the cab. He went to his door and rung the doorbell, holding his breath.  
  
"Ephram!" the door opened and he saw someone that he guessed was Delia. She was almost his height and her hair was long and dark and she looked liked a model.  
  
"Delia?" Ephram asked.  
  
Delia wrapped her arms around him. "Dad and I missed you so much!" She was crying now and that almost made Ephram start crying.  
  
"I missed you and dad too." Ephram responded weakly. This was the most affection anyone has giving him since Brandon left him two months ago,  
  
"Dads at work." Delia said, pulling him into the house. Ephram stumbled in. And almost became overwhelmed by the memories.  
  
"Why aren't you at school?" Ephram asked.  
  
"It's Saturday." Delia responded. She led Ephram into the dining room and sat him down. "Dad wanted to take the whole week off, since you called.but him staying home was driving him crazy." Delia laughed uncomfortably.  
  
"You look different." Ephram said, trying to fill up the sudden silence.  
  
"So do you." Delia told him. "Well, not really. You just look whiter, and the hair and eyebrow ring. You're also a little skinnier."  
  
They were silent again, unsure of what to say next. "Where have you been?" Delia asked suddenly.  
  
"New York City." Ephram answered.  
  
"How come you didn't call Grandpa or Nonny?"  
  
Ephram shrugged. "So, what has been going on in Everwood since I left?" He said, wanting to change the subject.  
  
"A lot." Delia answered. "Irv died two years ago. Heart attack. Edna hasn't really been the same since then."  
  
"That's sad." Ephram responded.  
  
"Dad and Nina are engaged." Delia said. "But Nina and Sam still live next door. They'll be moving in, in about a month."  
  
Ephram nodded. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.  
  
"Amy got married last year. To some guy, David, she met at Princeton." Delia told him.  
  
Ephram remembered Amy. He remembered falling in love with her, and he remembered Colin dying, and then he remembered saying goodbye to her. "That's nice."  
  
"Before the wedding she told me that she wished you were here, to stop her." Delia confided. Ephram smirked. He decided to wait to tell Delia that he was gay.  
  
They both heard the door open and close. "Delia?" They heard Andy call. "In here dad!" Delia responded eagerly.  
  
They stood up as they waited for Andy to come in the dining room to notice that Ephram had come home.  
  
"Delia, did." Andy stopped there as he looked up and noticed his son.  
  
"Hey dad." Ephram said, kind of sheepishly.  
  
"Ephram." Andy said. They stared at each other for a few minutes before Andy opened his arms and Ephram walked in them.  
  
"It's been a long time."  
  
End. 


End file.
